Reid seeks solution to Vick's fumble woes

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Steve McLendon (90), right, strips the ball from Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick (7) as he hits him in the third quarter of an NFL football game on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012, in Pittsburgh. The Eagles recovered the fumble, but the Steelers won 16-14. (AP Photo/Don Wright)

PHILADELPHIA – Puzzled by Michael Vick’s sudden tendency to fumble, Eagles head coach And Reid said Monday he inspected the protective rib gear of his quarterback.

It’s not the vest.

Nor is fate the reason, as Vick implied, that he fumbled the ball away twice in the 16-14 loss Sunday to the Steelers and has five fumbles in five games this season, slightly off the pace of the NFL single-season record of 23 set by Kerry Collins with the Giants in 2001.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Vick said after the game. “And if it was meant to be, I wouldn’t have fumbled the ball at the goal line. But I have no explanation for it.”

Reid believes those naïve remarks that drew regional and national criticism were due partly to fatigue as Vick addressed fumble questions numerous times at the post-game news conference. Vick also took another beating as the Steelers sacked him three times. Fate? Haha!

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“I would tell you that there’s nobody more competitive than this guy,” Reid said of Vick. “He knows that he can’t fumble. He knows that he can’t have turnovers and he can’t fumble. Nobody knows that better than the player and he doesn’t want to go out there and do those things.”

“But we’ve got to go back and we’ve got to work on ball security. We’ll do that and get that right. And he’s going to get it right just like he did the interceptions and we’ll get this thing fixed.”

Reid spoke as if Vick had never had issues fumbling the football. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Vick has 84 fumbles in 116 games. He’s averaging 0.724 fumbles per game, a rate above the average of Brett Favre (.5496), the NFL’s all-time leading fumbler. Favre has 166 fumbles in 302 games.

Turnovers of any kind are an issue because teams that win the turnover battle on game days usually win the games. Teams that finish games plus-1 in turnover ratio since 2003 have won almost 70 percent of the time. And the percentage jumps to 83.5 percent for plus-2, 89.5 percent for plus-3 and tops out at 97.4 percent for plus-4.

The Eagles (3-2) were an anomaly beating the Browns and the Ravens despite finishing minus-1 in turnover ratio. The Eagles were minus-3 in the loss to the Cardinals, plus-1 in their win over the Giants and minus-2 in the loss to the Steelers.

Balancing the run-to-pass ratio enabled Vick to reduce the interceptions that were a big issue earlier in the season. Vick hasn’t thrown a pick after unloading six in the first three games. Just don’t expect Vick to stop running.

“You saw us come back with the QB draw after he had a couple of fumbles” against the Steelers, Reid said. “I’ve got trust in him that he’ll get this thing right. Just like with the interceptions. He kind of got that worked out. He’s making good decisions there. This part of the game, he’s got to take care of. And he knows that. He’s going to continue to carry the football. He’s just going to secure it away, keep it high and tight. If he’s in traffic get that thing covered up with the off hand.”

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Reid cannot afford to be a complainer, lest his players join in.

Which is why Big Drew went in another direction Monday when asked about playing three straight games against teams coming off their byes.

Publicly Reid doesn’t feel like he’s at a competitive advantage. Privately he know he’s 13-0 in games immediately after his bye week.

“You’re dealt things in the NFL, you’re dealt things in the game, each play you’re dealt things and you just go about your business,” Reid said. “You do what you need to do. We were right there in that game (versus the Steelers). Bye week, no bye week, playing at home, all those things you can analyze and look at all of them. We were right there to win the game. I don’t worry about that. I worry about us taking care of our business.”

With Reid at the helm, Eagles have won three of their last four games immediately before the bye week.

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Speaking of byes, the Eagles are 7-6 in the game before their bye week.

They’ve won three of their last four such games.

Games before Eagles bye week in Andy Reid era

2011 – Beat Redskins 20-13

2010 – Lost to Titans 37-19

2009 – Beat Chiefs 34-14

2008 – Beat Niners 40-26

2007 – Lost to Giants 16-3

2006 – Lost to Jaguars 13-6

2005 – Lost to Cowboys 33-10

2004 – Beat Panthers 30-8

2003 – Beat Bills 23-13

2002 – Lost to Jaguars 28-25

2001 – Lost to Cardinals 21-21

2000 – Beat Browns 35-24

1999 – Beat Rams 38-31

NOTES: Injuries to running back Bryce Brown (shoulder) and linebacker Mychal Kendricks are minor according to Reid, who expects all of the Eagles to practice Wednesday … Michael Vick is 24th in the league in passer rating (77.8). That’s eight spots below Kevin Kolb (89.7) … Domininique Rodgers-Cromartie, Nnamdi Asomugha, Evan Mathis and Demetress Bell are tied for the team lead in penalties with four each.